Yesterday, an individual called wanting to know if the fact that she was pregnant would guarantee a successful H&C application because of the duty to consider the “best interests of the child.” The father is Canadian.Continue reading →

Subsection 25(1) of Canada’s Immigration and Refugee Protection Act provides immigration officers with the flexibility to grant on humanitarian and compassionate (“H&C”) exemptions to overcome the requirement of obtaining a permanent residence visa from abroad and/or to overcome class eligibility requirements and/or inadmissibilities.

H&C applications may be based on a number factors, including:

establishment in Canada;

ties to Canada;

the best interests of any children affected by their application;

factors in their country of origin (this includes but is not limited to: Medical inadequacies, discrimination that does not amount to persecution, harassment or other hardships that are not related to a fear of return based on refugee determination factors;

health considerations;

family violence considerations;

consequences of the separation of relatives;

inability to leave Canada has led to establishment; and/or

any other relevant factor they wish to have considered not related to a fear of return based on refugee determination factors.

Establishment in Canada

Citizenship and Immigration Canada’s Inland Processing Manual (the “Manual“) provides that the degree of an applicant’s establihsment may be measured with questions such as the following:

Does the applicant have a history of stable employment?

Is there a pattern of sound financial management?

Has the applicant remained in one community or moved around?

Has the applicant integrated into the community through involvement in community organizations, voluntary services or other activities?

Has the applicant undertaken any professional, linguistic or other studies that show integration into Canadian society?

Do the applicant and their family members have a good civil record in Canada? (e.g. no criminal charges or interventions by law enforcement officers or other authorities for domestic violence or child abuse).

Establishment and Legal Status in Canada

Being in Canada without status does not automatically lead to the non-application of H&C factors. For example, remaining in Canada pending the outcome of legal procedures, including after a failed refugee claim, would not necessarily be a negative factor. However, “flouting the law and ignoring lawful orders to leave the country” will likely result in the establishment factor being negative.

As the Federal Court of Appeal stated in Canada (Minister of Citizenship and Immigration) v. Legault, 2002 FCA 125:

In short, the Immigration Act and the Canadian immigration policy are founded on the idea that whoever comes to Canada with the intention of settling must be of good faith and comply to the letter with the requirements both in form and substance of the Act. Whoever enters Canada illegally contributes to falsifying the immigration plan and policy and gives himself priority over those who do respect the requirements of the Act. The Minister, who is responsible for the application of the policy and the Act, is definitely authorised to refuse the exception requested by a person who has established the existence of humanitarian and compassionate grounds, if he believes, for example, that the circumstances surrounding his entry and stay in Canada discredit him or create a precedent susceptible of encouraging illegal entry in Canada. In this sense, the Minister is at liberty to take into consideration the fact that the humanitarian and compassionate grounds that a person claims are the result of his own actions. (emphasis added)

When establishment is a function of having deliberately chosen to evade removal, it should not provide an applicant with an advantage over those who have complied with the law.

Circumstances Beyond the Applicant’s Control

The Manual provides guidance to officers in determining whether positive consideration may be warranted where the period of inability to leave Canada were beyond the applicant’s control, and where there is evidence of a significant degree of establishment in Canada such that it would cause the applicant unusual or disproportionate hardship to apply from outside Canada. It states:

Circumstances beyond the applicant’s control

If general country conditions are considered unsafe due to war, civil unrest, environmental disaster, etc., the Minister of Public Safety may impose a temporary suspension of removals (TSR) on that country.

If general country conditions are considered unsafe due to war, civil unrest, environmental disaster, etc., the Minister of Public Safety may impose a temporary suspension of removals (TSR) on that country.

Circumstances Not Beyond the Applicant’s Control

An applicant, in Canada for a number of years, is unwilling to sign a passport application or provide particulars for a passport application.

Pursuant to the Federal Court of Appeal in Hawthorne v. Canada (Minister of Citizenship and Immigration), 2002 FCA 475, the best interests of the child in an H&C context involves an assessment of the benefits a child would receive if his parent was not removed, in conjunction with an assessment of the hardship the child would face if the parent was removed and the child remained in Canada, or if the child was to return to the parent’s country of origin with the parent.

In Saporsantos, however, Justice Shore systemically and thoroughly criticized the principle that dependency determines whether one is a child.

An Overview of the Decision

The applicant in Saporsantos argued that the definition of “dependent child” in section 2 of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations (the “Regulations“)determined whether a person was entitled to a best interests of the child analysis. Section 2 of the Regulations defines “Dependent Child” as:

“dependent child”, in respect of a parent, means a child who

(a) has one of the following relationships with the parent, namely,

(i) is the biological child of the parent, if the child has not been adopted by a person other than the spouse or common-law partner of the parent, or

(ii) is the adopted child of the parent; and

(b) is in one of the following situations of dependency, namely,

(i) is less than 22 years of age and not a spouse or common-law partner,

(ii) has depended substantially on the financial support of the parent since before the age of 22 — or if the child became a spouse or common-law partner before the age of 22, since becoming a spouse or common-law partner — and, since before the age of 22 or since becoming a spouse or common-law partner, as the case may be, has been a student

(A) continuously enrolled in and attending a post-secondary institution that is accredited by the relevant government authority, and

(B) actively pursuing a course of academic, professional or vocational training on a full-time basis, or

(iii) is 22 years of age or older and has depended substantially on the financial support of the parent since before the age of 22 and is unable to be financially self-supporting due to a physical or mental condition.

The Court, however, noted that section 2 of the Regulations began with the statement that:

2. The definitions in this section apply in these Regulations.

The Court accordingly concluded that the IRPA and its Regulations are two different pieces of legislation. Thus, the definition of “dependent child” in the Regulationsdoes not determine what a child for H&C consideration in IRPA.

After concluding that s. 2 of the Regulations did not determine the issue, Justice Shore noted that the using the definition of “dependent child” to interpret the meaning of “child” is contrary to the presumption of consistent expression. As noted in Sullivan on the Construction of Statutes (5th edition, 2008), the presumption of consistent expression states that:

It is presumed that the legislature uses language carefully and consistently so that within a statute or other legislative instrument the same words have the same meaning and different words have different meanings. Another way of understanding this presumption is to say that the legislature is presumed to avoid stylistic variation. Once a particular way of expressing a meaning has been adopted, it makes sense to infer that where a different form of expression is used, a different meaning is intended. (Sullivan at pp. 214-215).

The concluded that the appropriate reference to determine the meaning of “child” was not IRPA’s Regulations, but rather the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (the “Convention“). The Court noted that while the Convention has not been enacted into Canadian law, the jurisprudence is clear that IRPA must be interpreted in accordance with international treaties, that the values reflected in such treaties may help inform Canadian statutory interpretation, and that the importance of the Convention has been specifically stressed in Canadian immigration jurisprudence.

The Convention defines a child as:

Article 1

For the purposes of the present Convention, a child means every human being below the age of eighteen years unless under the law applicable to the child, majority is attained earlier.

Accordingly, practitioners should note that disabled adult clients no longer appear to be entitled to a best interests of the child analysis for H&C purposes.

The June 2010 RIMBits issued the following alert about the decision:

Definition of child for best interest of the child assessments

Q. The applicant is a mentally challenged who is cared for by her grandparents. The applicant’s mother is a Canadian citizen, having gained permanent residence through the Skilled Worker program. She is barred from sponsoring her daughter under the Family Class due to paragraph 117{9)(d) of the Regulations as she did not declare her during the initial immigration process. The applicant filed a permanent residence application (FC3) seeking the waiver of the ss. 117(9 )(d) exclusion on H&C grounds. Did the officer err by failing to make a proper determination of the best interest of the child directly affected by the decision, the applicant herself, in accordance with section 25 of IRPA?

A. (Result of judicial review) The fact that the applicant may fit the definition of a “dependent child” pursuant to section 2 of IRPR is not determinative of whether she is a “child” for the purposes of an H&C application. “Dependent child” as defined in R2 deals is not congruent with the term “child” referred to in A25(1). Justice Shore also found that binding international instruments play a special role in the interpretation of IRPA. The duty to conduct a BIOC assessment is intimately linked to the Convention on the Rights of the Child which defines a child as a person under the age of eighteen. Therefore, it would be inconsistent to give the term “child” under IRPA a different meaning. The Court found that the applicant’s developmental delay does not entitle her to a BIOC assessment. The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities treats children and adults with disabilities differently and only requires a BIOC assessment for children with disabilities. Therefore, best interest of the child determinations should not be made for dependent adults.

Nonetheless, common sense would indicate that the impact that a guardian’s separation would have on a disabled adult would still be a significant factor in determining whether there are sufficient H&C grounds to qualify for an H&C exemption.

The purpose of this blog post is to provide an overview of the changes to Humanitarian & Compassionate Applications (“H&C“) resulting from the Balanced Refugee Reform Act and the Protecting Canada’s Immigration System Act which are now in effect. In brief, there are now several restrictions on when H&C applications can be made.

Permanent Residence Applications Only

Perhaps most importantly, section 25 of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act now states:

Subject to subsection (1.2), the Minister must, on request of a foreign national in Canada who applies for permanent resident status and who is inadmissible or does not meet the requirements of this Act, and may, on request of a foreign national outside Canada who applies for a permanent resident visa, examine the circumstances concerning the foreign national and may grant the foreign national permanent resident status or an exemption from any applicable criteria or obligations of this Act if the Minister is of the opinion that it is justified by humanitarian and compassionate considerations relating to the foreign national, taking into account the best interests of a child directly affected.

The following table explains how Citizenship and Immigration Canada will process H&C applications in certain scenarios.

If

Then

CIC receives the H&C application on or after June 29, 2010, and the applicant has a pending H&C application (this could include an H&C request made in the context of another type of PR application)…

the H&C application will NOT be examined, fee and application will be returned.

the application is received on or after June 28, 2012, and the applicant has a pending refugee claim….

the H&C application will NOT be examined, fee and application will be returned.

the application is received on or after June 28, 2012, and the applicant has received a negative decision on a refugee claim from the Immigration and Refugee Board’s Refugee Protection Division (RPD) or Refugee Appeal Division (RAD).

the H&C application will NOT be examined until after 12 months have passed since the date of the last decision, fee and application will be returned, unless an exception applies.

the application is received on or after June 28, 2012, and the applicant has withdrawn a refugee claim AFTER substantive evidence was heard at their RPD hearing

the H&C application will NOT be examined until after 12 months have passed since the date that the IRB determined the claim to be withdrawn, fee and application will be returned, unless an exception applies.

the application is received on or after June 28, 2012, and the applicant has withdrawn a refugee claim BEFORE substantive evidence was heard at their RPD hearing

the H&C application will be examined.

the application is received on or after June 28, 2012, and the applicant has been determined to be a “designated foreign national”

the H&C application will NOT be examined for 5 years.

Exceptions

The exceptions mentioned above are 1) risk to life due to medical condition and 2) adverse effect on the best interests of a child directly affected. Special rules apply to claiming these exceptions, and it is important that applicants be specific that they are requesting them.

People who either face removal or who have received a removal order should contact a lawyer immediately to determine what their options are. The purpose of this post is to provide an overview of the legislative scheme for deferring removal orders. It provides a general framework, and cannot substitute the advice that a lawyer can give when he applies these facts to your situation. Continue reading →

Many people are often try to sponsor an adult sibling only to learn that adult siblings (and adult children) are not eligible to be sponsored under the family class. However, in certain cases, such individuals may be eligible for humanitarian & compassionate grounds as de facto family members.Continue reading →

On Saturday, August 14, Citizenship and Immigration Canada (“CIC“) released Ministers Instructions regarding proposed changes to the Immigrations and Refugee Protection Regulations (the “Regulations“) that will correspond to changes to humanitarian & compassionate (“H&C“) applications under s. 25 of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (“IRPA“) that resulted from the Balanced Refugee Reform Act (“Bill C-11“).

The changes will impact H&C applications under IRPA s. 25, whichprovides that an individual who does not meet the eligibility requirements to apply within an immigration class may be granted permanent resident status or an exemption from any criteria under humanitarian and compassionate or public policy grounds. Prior to Bill C-11, s. 25 stated:

25. (1) The Minister shall, upon request of a foreign national in Canada who is inadmissible or who does not meet the requirements of this Act, and may, on the Minister’s own initiative or on request of a foreign national outside Canada, examine the circumstances concerning the foreign national and may grant the foreign national permanent resident status or an exemption from any applicable criteria or obligation of this Act if the Minister is of the opinion that it is justified by humanitarian and compassionate considerations relating to them, taking into account the best interests of a child directly affected, or by public policy considerations.

Provincial criteria

(2) The Minister may not grant permanent resident status to a foreign national referred to in subsection 9(1) if the foreign national does not meet the province’s selection criteria applicable to that foreign national.2001, c. 27, s. 25; 2008, c. 28, s. 117.

As a result of Bill C-11, s. 25 will now read:

25. (1) The Minister must, on request of a foreign national in Canada who is inadmissible or who does not meet the requirements of this Act, and may, on request of a foreign national outside Canada, examine the circumstances concerning the foreign national and may grant the foreign national permanent resident status or an exemption from any applicable criteria or obligations of this Act if the Minister is of the opinion that it is justified by humanitarian and compassionate considerations relating to the foreign national, taking into account the best interests of a child directly affected.

(1.1) The Minister is seized of a request referred to in subsection (1) only if the applicable fees in respect of that request have been paid.

(1.2) The Minister may not examine the request if the foreign national has already made such a request and the request is pending.

(1.3) In examining the request of a foreign national in Canada, the Minister may not consider the factors that are taken into account in the determination of whether a person is a Convention refugee under section 96 or a person in need of protection under subsection 97(1) but must consider elements related to the hardships that affect the foreign national.

25.1 (1) The Minister may, on the Minister’s own initiative, examine the circumstances concerning a foreign national who is inadmissible or who does not meet the requirements of this Act and may grant the foreign national permanent resident status or an exemption from any applicable criteria or obligations of this Act if the Minister is of the opinion that it is justified by humanitarian and compassionate considerations relating to the foreign national, taking into account the best interests of a child directly affected.

(2) The Minister may exempt the foreign national from the payment of any applicable fees in respect of the examination of their circumstances under subsection (1).

(3) The Minister may not grant permanent resident status to a foreign national referred to in subsection 9(1) if the foreign national does not meet the province’s selection criteria applicable to that foreign national.

25.2 (1) The Minister may, in examining the circumstances concerning a foreign national who is inadmissible or who does not meet the requirements of this Act, grant that person permanent resident status or an exemption from any applicable criteria or obligations of this Act if the Minister is of the opinion that it is justified by public policy considerations.

(2) The Minister may exempt the foreign national from the payment of any applicable fees in respect of the examination of their circumstances under subsection (1).

(3) The Minister may not grant permanent resident status to a foreign national referred to in subsection 9(1) if the foreign national does not meet the province’s selection criteria applicable to that foreign national.

The proposed changes to the Regulations are largely technical, and designed to ensure that the “splitting” of s. 25 into three sections are reflected in the Regulations.

Thus, s. 233 of the Regulations will now state that:

233. A removal order made against a foreign national, and any family member of the foreign national, is stayed if the Minister is of the opinion that the stay is justified by humanitarian and compassionate considerations, under subsection 25(1) or 25.1(1) of the Act, or by public policy considerations, under subsection 25.2(1) of the Act. The stay is effective until a decision is made to grant, or not grant, permanent resident status.

Section 207 of the Regulations, regarding work permits, contains a similar amendment, and will now state that:

(b) a person in respect of whom an application for a permanent resident visa, an application to remain in Canada as a permanent resident, or an application under subsection 25(1) of the Act is pending, or in respect of whom a decision under subsection 25.1(1) or 25.2(1) of the Act is pending;

These changes also apply to permanent resident visas and processing fees in s. 67-68 of the Regulations, and in s. 298(2)(b) regarding payment of fees.

On July 22, 2010, Citizenship and Immigration Canada released Operational Bulletin 202 – “Instruction to Immigration Officers in Canada on processing cases involving military deserters”.

The timing of the bulletin suggests that it is likely a response to the high profile Hinzman decision, previously commented on in this blog.

According to the bulletin, immigration officers have been instructed to contact their Regional Program Adviser for guidance when processing applications for permanent residence in Canada made by military deserts. They are also instructed to copy the Case Review Division of the CMB on their initial communication with their RPA.

CPC-Vegreville has been asked to transfer applications filed by military deserters to the appropriate inland CIC for processing.

All new claims for refugee status and any updates to existing refugee claims or PRRA applications are to also be provided to CMB.